Boxer's New iOS App for Gmail and Exchange Aims for Rapid Response

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Boxer's New iOS App for Gmail and Exchange Aims for Rapid Response

Boxer is a new iOS email app designed to help you sort through your mailbox, with built-in features that let you swipe to sort and respond to messages. The basic idea is that Boxer will help you reply to, organize and prioritize your email with software tools. "Triage and trash are what lots of these other guys are after," says Boxer co-founder Jason Shellen, who heads up product, "but I think it's more about the response and management."

While Boxer does have triage tools to quickly archive email, it also has some unique response and action item features, like the ability to "like" incoming messages, send a quick reply with auto responses, add emails to a to-do list, or send a priority request to another Boxer user. It also integrates with Dropbox for file sharing, and syncs up with LinkedIn and Facebook to create profile cards of your contacts.

The quick replies are pretty fantastic. There are a bunch of templates that come with the program, and you can make your own. (I made one to reply to PR queries that replies "Sounds good, I agree to the embargo" for example.) The Likes are a bit more puzzling. When you like a message, if the person who sent it isn't on Boxer, it sends an auto-response that reads (in my case) "Mat Honan liked your message with Boxer." The idea is that these can be used in similar fashion to a read-receipt – a way to let the other party know you've seen the message. Still, this led one overwhelmed recipient to reply "Oh jesus, LIKES coming to email?" In other words: Use sparingly.

Another thing that sets Boxer apart is that it supports Exchange, Gmail and Google Apps, Yahoo Mail, iCloud, AOL, and Outlook/Hotmail. The big deal here is Exchange.

"We're the only independent app that supports Gmail and Exchange. There are lots that do one or the other, but this is the only independent one that does both," says Shellen. "We are a true client – we're not trying to get between you and your Exchange admin – we have provisions for security where you can do things like passcode lock or remote wipe or other things that some Exchange admins require."

If you're an email power user, who relies heavily on filters and folders, you'll be pleased to see Boxer supports those too. The bottom line is that like Alto and Mailbox, this is yet another tool in the email arsenal. It may or may not be right for you, and nothing is going to fix your email short of getting less of it, but it's great to see all these innovative approaches.

Boxer is free for the first 100,000 people to download it, and after that will cost $4.99.